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Not worth the load times

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have been an avid fan of RPG games since the mid-1970s, and the Dungeon Siege titles are usually great. I've read some of the reviews on this title, Throne of Agony, and nobody seems to remark about how fully the name sums up this game.

It's agony.

Oh, not really the game itself. The graphics are superb. The D&D knock-off gameplay is easy enough to play without any time wasted reading the instructions for experienced RPG players. And some of the effects are visually impressive for a handheld gaming system.

Unfortunately, that's all of the good things about this game. The plot is pretty much absent, and the game is extremely linear. Oh, you can get into some of the dungeons out of sequence, but you'll just have to do those dungeons twice. If you complete a dungeon before you are assigned the relevant quest, you can't obtain the quest item (even if it's just to kill the dungeon "Boss" - you have to go back and do it again). There is no interaction with your NPC, and no in-game help if you get stuck (like by talking with the characters in town, or the one who assigned your quest). Some of the quests are positively cryptic, and the quest decription failed to direct me in any useful way. I found myself going to online gaming sites for clues after wasting hours doing every dungeon in an area over and over, without any idea how to proceed.

Which leads me to my next complaint. There is no strategy guide or game guide available for this game. I like strategy guides. I don't need to be spoonfed, but I like to choose my character with some information about what kind of talents and skills each class brings to the game. I like maps. I like to understand the game mechanics. There is no information whatsoever provided about class skills in the instruction pamphlet. There are Hero and Legendary Classes opened for each character at levels 30 and 60, respectively, but again, I had no idea which would be fun to play for my game style. I had to save, pick a class upgrade, try it, then reload and try the other choice (only two choices for class upgrades at each level).

I was tired of hack-and-slash, so I tried the Wizard. Mistake. You need to put almost all of your available points into Strength if you want to be able to carry any inventory ("Loot") at all, so I ended up with a weak mage who hacked and slashed his way through the game. Additionally, the descriptions of some of the skills were absolutely inaccurate. For example, the Animate Dead skill was supposed to give a 10% chance of animating defeated enemies (up to a maximum of three "dead" henchmen can be obtained at one tome). However, I completed three full dungeons without a single henchman generating (over 500 enemies defeated, as I was leveling up my character and going back and forth between levels). On the average, I estimate that less than 1% of my enemies became undead henchmen. And "enemies" include broken barrels, by the way. The broken barrels may be reanimated as skeleton henchmen. Go figure.

Still, the game was pretty easy to get through, as long as I wasn't too stubborn to check online when I couldn't luck into a solution within a few hours. In fact, the game is too easy. The first of the three Acts is a reasonable length, the second is very long, and the third - didn't occur. One moment I was finishing the last Boss in the second Act (it took exactly two hits with my sword to finish this Boss - both the Boss and my character were at level 60), then I pushed the Interact button after the fight, was offered the option to save, and the game... Ended. The third Act was supposedly two Quests, both of which were completed by interacting with the dead Boss' throne (which meant pushing the "square" exactly one time after defeating the Boss). Major letdown. Weak Boss fights, no strategy, and no proper end.

The cutscenes aren't even movies. They're a single poorly-depicted scene with a voice-over. The game graphics are great, and the cutscene graphics could have been generated on my Commodore PET in the early 1980's.

Despite all of these problems, I still haven't mentioned the biggest flaw in this game. The load times are ridiculous. Every time you go into town (or out), into or out of a dungeon, access the map (which you can only do if you're on the overworld, not in a dungeon or town), look at a teleport station, the load time may be anywhere from 90 seconds to three minutes. Several times I found that my PSP screen saver timed out before the game loaded the next area.

Overall, the game was pretty weak, but I gave it a fair try - I played through to the end and even tried the Elite level (same game, but all of the monsters are 50 levels higher than on normal mode). I didn't want to write a bad review unfairly. The load times alone, though, make this game truly the Throne of Agony.

Save yourself the Agony. If you must play this game, make certain you have something else to do at the same time, so that you won't fall asleep waiting for the next area to load. I played in front of the television, and on the euphemistic "Throne." Which is where this game belongs.

Beware - Bugs!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Everything was fine until about 2/3rds of the way through. At that point, I ran into some rather obvious bugs. First, it refused to acknowlege that I'd completed a quest - even the obvious steps like "Enter the Citadel" would not receive the checkmark. Then, it fell into a mode where I couldn't hit any monsters. Swinging just fine, but not able to actually hit anything. I tried rebooting from a saved game, but still ran into the same problems. Lost all motivation to start from the beginning with a new character...

Way to easy and short.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: July 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I seem to be in the minority here as I found this game to be rather unsatisfying. The most awesome part of this game is Supervillian's corporate splash movie with the monkey riding the nuclear bomb. After that, you get the start menu and everything starts to spiral down.

While the graphics are excellent and has a very cool look and feel, the game play is way to easy. Taking into account the game is designed for a portable, I finished this game in around eight hours of playtime.

The entire game consists of simply walking from one dungeon to the next and killing everything inside with occasional forays into town to sell stuff and get new quests. The plot is paper-thin and barely serves as a vehicle for this. There are no puzzles or other challenges.

This wouldn't be a problem except all the enemies simply die without much of a fight. For example I killed the final boss on my first try by simply walking up to the throne and pressing 'x' five or six times. No strategy required. I didn't even need to use any special abilities. The rest of the mobs for the entire game are no more threatening than tissue paper.

Treasure is very unbalanced, after and hour I wasn't picking up any items that wasn't either a potion or colored purple or amber. Every mob drops money and you'll have a fortune without much effort.

The load times are horrendous! It is so bad that the novel teleporting system that should allow you to simply zip from one place to another is rendered moot. In some areas it is faster to walk than to wait through another load screen.

Maybe Supervillian should look into animation instead. Seriously that was an awesome monkey.

Puts You to Sleep

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I really hate to knock this game. I do not want to. However, for the price and the description of the game, it should be better than it is. It is soooo monotonous and very easy. This would be a great RPG for the teens and younger. Yes, I am older than that.

The graphics are ok. The number of quests are many. Plenty of weapons and spells to get your hands on and use.

What is bad are the load times. They are horrible (PSP Slim). When clearing areas of beasts (some quests require), the quest is accomplished but the beasts keep automatically reappearing. The on screen map is nice, but instead of it showing you where you have been, it shows you everything within the level you are in whether you were there or not yet. So too easy to know what is around each and every corner before you even get there.

I could keep going. It is ok fun, but compared to other RPG type games, I recommend others if you want a challenge and do not want to get bored.

Best Diablo like RPG for PSP

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: November 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is a typical Diablo inspired RPG. Your hero will hack, slash and loot his/her way through yet another fantasy setting. What makes this game atypical is how well its made and lack of good rpg's for PSP. The interface in this game is pretty good. You use the knob to move, shoulder buttons to drink potions, directional buttons to switch weapons/magic/ map modes, and others to use weapons. As you learn different skills up to six are assignable via button combinations. The interface falls short a bit when it comes to managing inventory. Pressing select bring up a whole new screen. the is no "paper doll" but rather lists for armor/ weapons/ gear etc.. assigning points and viewing stats takes a bit of taking use to. Good thing you don't take damage as you do so. Other handy feature is compare button which allows quick check to see if your equipped sword is better or worse that that mace you just found.
Another shortcoming that only first line of dialogues is voiced.
However, it is still a greatlooking, fun, engrossing game.

It is a must have for all RPG fans.
4.5/5

A Fine Dungeon Siege

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: January 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a fine little game bringing the same kind of play as the successful "Untold Legends" series. The graphics aren't quite as nice, and you can't move the camera around, but this does not detract from the game play experience very much. On the plus side, you have a variety of interesting companions that may fight at your side (one will both fight and constantly heal you). I reccomend this game.

Great RPG!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The storyline is solid enough to be on a computer game and the graphics are up to par. The music is the outstanding and came out straight out of the dungeon siege original computer game. I really do enjoy playing this game the only problem I have, and believe me when I say it is not a major issue, is the loading time during multiplayer. Very nice buy, and one I do not regret. I will probably finish this game with each one of the 3 characters included. Extremely easy to pick up on the run and do a quest or two between patients.

Almost a perfect game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This adaption of the Dungeon Siege product line for PSP is almost perfect. It has great graphics, challenging play, and a good story line. The only thing that mars it is a flaw in the multiplayer mode that saves character data but restarts you at the very beginning of first area when you load a save game; making it vitually imposible to play through the whole game in multiplayer. Overall for solo play I'd give it a 5 star rating but as a total product this flaw drops it to 4 Stars in my opinion.

A Surprised Favorite - Spent hours on this game...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a huge game player, the only other game I really got interested in was Diablo II on my computer at home. When I got my PSP, I purchased this game after I read a review about how similar it was to Diablo.

It is, in many ways, just like the Diablo game. You are a "warrior" who is given quests and you go about battleing monsters and evil - collecting money and magical weapons/items along the way. You have to purchase health & mana potions and so on so forth. It's not as complex as Diablo (which is understandable since you are playing it on a PSP - not a computer).

I did find the loading times annoying at first. Everytime you want to go somewhere or look at a map, the game will take a couple of minutes to load. I usually set my PSP down and stretch for a bit before going back to battle.

I like the graphics and the scenery. There's the ocean, forests, deserts, mountains, etc. I also like having a "follower" to help out with killing the monsters. The plots & quests are also easy to follow. Sometimes when I'm playing the game, I'd wish it was on a bigger screen or brighter, but that can't be helped since the PSP is small for portability.

It's extremely addictive and I enjoy playing this game alot. Before I purchased this, I did go to Blockbuster and rented it for about a week. If you aren't sure, perhaps you can try that out too! I'm sure at the end of the week, you'll want to purchase a copy for yourself!! =)

Action-RPG fan's review

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I've been an avid fan of console action-rpgs for a while now ever since Phantasy Star Online hit the Gamecube several years back, so I have a pretty good reference when rating Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony (ToA). This review is mostly for gameplay since I tend to not mind graphics and audio so much.

First off, let me emphasize that ToA is a traditional hach'n'slash game. Its greatest appeal will be towards gamers who enjoy mindlessly destroying hordes of baddies, level grind, and item micromanagement. It's most similar to Baldur's Gate on consoles, Diablo on computers, and Untold Legends on the portable front.

Like the afformentioned games, ToA has players select thier avatars--the warrior, mage, and archer archetypes--in the beginning. The three characters already have names, and players can neither customize their avatar's physical featurs such as hair and height nor their initial parameters (stamina, power, intelligence, etc.). This lack of customization is really superficial though; equiping new items will drastically change an avatar's appearance and players can still customize parameters upon leveling up. Also, depending on which character you choose, you can select one pet/follower ranging from a fire elemental to a baby dragon that will fight and level up right beside your character, and many more choices become available as the game progresses.

Characters aren't limited to one class either. Once your avatar is raised to a certain level, you may choose one of two hero classes, and at even higher levels, you may choose one of four legendary classes. For example, Allister starts out as a battle mage, but he may become a vile wizard or white wizard. Later on, depending on which hero class you choose, Allister may become a lich, death kight, archmage, or arcane champion; each class has skills unique to them.

Deciding on which parameters to level up isn't as much of a painstaking choice either; for example, the stamina parameter not only raises hit points (how much damage an avatar can take) and hit point regeneration, but mana regeneration as well (which helps in deciding how often a character can use skills and magic). Likewise, the power paramter not only raises strength (decides melee damage) and carrying capacity, but a bit of defense as well. Because of this, characters have greater flexibility in how they are raised; a mage doesn't always have to be a spellcaster and a warrior doesn't always have to be a frontliner. This is reflected in the character class progression--in Allister's case, even though he starts off as a spellcaster, the Death Knight and Arcane Champion are geared towards melee

As far as the adventure goes, you're basically relegated to fetch and extermination quests with a few variations thrown in. You press the x button to use your weapon and a combination of buttons to use your magic. The game is very linear making progress a matter of how fast your avatar can kill the enemies--don't expect a God of War action game here. The option of going through the story with a friend does make the game more enjoyable. Even without a friend, ToA is quite easy except for those unexpected mob rushes and high level grunts. That ease is further exaggerated since gold and rare items are easy finds. However, for someone like myself, this makes it appear that you're actually accomplishing something. In another action-rpg, Phantasy Star Online, you might have to spend days searching for the high end rares--something that really irritated me after failure after failure.

User interface is also very friendly. ToA minimizes the arduousness of opening and cycling through the menu. Instead, you can access all of your consumable items, the map, and equipped weopons using the d-pad; Any item drops can be viewed and compared with your current items without having to pick them up; there is no camera control, but rarely do in-game structures obstruct your view. In effect, the game continuously flows except for when you need to equip and re-equip weapons and armors.

The biggest letdown in ToA is probably the loading times. It takes about 30 seconds to enter an area, which really dampens gameplay. The overworld map itself also takes 10+ seconds to load. Even in the main menu, going from screen to screen isn't instantaneous. Also, another complaint that I have is the inability to trade items between characters. If your warrior finds a powerful wand, you won't be able to give it to your mage. Even in multiplayer mode you can't drop items so that your friend can take it. There are also some glitches where the game may freeze or become otherwise unplayable; make sure you save often so you can restart when a bug rears it ugly head!!! One last complaint, although minor, is that teleporting from a dungeon and back will take you back to the last entrance you entered instead of where you teleported from.

If it weren't for the loading times and bugs, I would have given the game a 5. ToA is still more than playable however. Loading times are a drag, but it doesn't hinder combat; glitches can be overcome if you have multiple save files and if you save often. Leveling up, learning new skills, finding rare items, and questing with a friend is just as addictive as ever if not familiar. ToA provides a qualtiy, full scale action-rpg in portable form--highly recommended.

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